Anyone who has recently followed Eugenie Bouchard on the tennis court will have noticed: She plays with her old hardness, courageous and powerful. The reward: In the evening she fights against Marketa Vondrousova for the third round of the US Open. For the 24-year-old Bouchard this is already a small success. In the past two years Bouchard had already failed in the opening round, they almost had flown in this time from the top 200 in the world rankings.

How could that happen?

Eugenie Bouchard was four years ago as the great future hope in women's tennis. She reached the semifinals of the 2014 Australian Open and the French Open in 2014, reaching the final at Wimbledon and finishing fifth in the tennis world this fall. Their timing seemed perfect: The WTA Tour was looking for a new figurehead for the time after Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova, and since Bouchard played attractive tennis, the then 20-year-old was the ideal cast.

But Bouchard did not confirm their results - and even off the court it did not work: At the US Open in 2015 she slipped on a cleaning agent after a late match in the dark locker room and contracted a concussion. The season of the Canadian was over. The rankings went down, followed by a lawsuit against the US Tennis Association (due to the accident at the US Open), which ended in February this year with a millionaire payment for Bouchard.

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Tennis professional Bouchard: At 20 at the peak

Anyone who followed the life of the Canadians in recent years via Instagram or Snapchat, got from a sporting crisis with nothing. One got the impression, Bouchard worked recently rather on a career away from the tennis court. Bouchard graced in 2017 and 2018 the "Swimsuit Edition" of the US magazine "Sports Illustrated", she was after a lost Twitter bet media effective a fan. One saw Bouchard very often on the beach, but very rarely shine in major tournaments.

Comparison with Anna Kournikova

Soon the comparison with Anna Kournikova came up. The Russian was one of the best-known tennis players in the world at the end of the 1990s. She is remembered by many as a player who has not won a single tournament - and as a term in poker: "AK", ie Ace and King. Meaning: looks good, but rarely wins.

However, this comparison is wrong. Kournikova was also a top ten player, semi-finalist at Wimbledon and first in the world in doubles, but had to end her career at the age of 21 due to injury.

Anyway, Bouchard has more goals in tennis and has resorted to a more unusual means for a comeback to the top of the world. In the spring she presented after a collaboration with Andre Agassi a coach of the older school: the 79-year-old Robert Lansdorp. He had already trained the tennis legends Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova, his exercise "Twenty at the baseline" is legendary, the constant repetition of one and the same stroke his secret of success. "To hit the ball hard and steady", so his theory - which is still valid for Lansdorp today, in times when the players prefer to act with a lot of spin.

Hard and constant

But maybe this coach fits perfectly with Bouchard. Because she played in her heyday just hard and constant. Their game usually looked like this: Close to the baseline, take the ball early, spread aggressively. This tactic works, of course, only if fitness and basic technology are right.

Since Bouchard relies on Lansdorp, things are getting better. "It feels like I've worked with her as a little girl, and what I said worked," says Lansdorp. Making the ball beat, which many believe is "deadly to them". Especially since the self-confidence suffered from the many defeats.

The way back towards the top is still tough. In June, Bouchard was listed on rank 194, currently she is due to minor successes the 137th At the US Open she had to fight through the qualification. She did that impressively: In three matches she played only seven games. On lap one Bouchard won again, now Vondrousova is waiting. If she wins, the formally strong Kiki Bertens could follow in a possible knockout round the world ranking second Caroline Wozniacki.

The round of the best 16 participants in a Grand Slam tournament had reached Bouchard last in 2015. The latest move to the last sixteen would be a great success for her and another step back in the world class.